Great Divide Brewing Company

Duffman929

Illinois

4/5  rDev -3.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $

This was the first brewery that I every visited, which sparked the craft beer lover in me. I went here on a vacation with my girlfriend in the mid-winter of '10 as part of a beer tour we found on Trip Advisor.

The place was small, but there were tons of beers on tap in the pub area. We were able to walk around for a beer tour and were able to see the in's and out's of how the GD works. We were then able to taste about 5 or 6 different beers, and this is where my love for the Yeti started. I still hadn't found an appreciation for IPA's, but stouts were right in my alley.

Overall, I recommend hitting this place up and then heading down the street to Breckenridge before going to an Avalanche or Rockies game. Lots of fun and get a DD.

06-06-2011 02:45:11 | More by Duffman929

DividedAvery

Colorado

4/5  rDev -3.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

I hadn't been to Great Divide since they expanded the tap room. They certainly did a great job. Now you can sit and have a beer and look directly into the brewhouse through big clean windows. The only gripe I have had with Great Divide now and in the past is that they don't usually have anything unusual on tap. Places like Avery and ODells will generally have things on tap that a unique to the tap room. At GD they generally have all of their production beers on tap, which are delicious, but doesn't give me any impetus to godown there more regularly. That being said I do love their beer as well as the pizza from the wood oven that regularly parks out front.

10-13-2011 01:02:52 | More by DividedAvery

BigbROB

Illinois

4.38/5  rDev +5.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Great Divide Tap Room is exactly that. A small room, little bigger than before, with taps on the wall. But the beer is good and the service is good. On a nice day make sure to sit out front and watch all the cool kids on their fixed gear bikes. I took a tour there awhile ago, and it was quite personal. Small group got up close and personal with all the people and equipment. Good times. A must stop if you are in Denver.

05-17-2013 14:11:58 | More by BigbROB

StaveHooks

Oklahoma

3.45/5  rDev -17.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Went to Great Divide on my birthday for a tour and some tasting. It was very crowded. It was hard to order a beer. There was one guy operating the bar and there 30 people ordering. It's cozy and eclectic. Cool building in downtown Denver. I think they had 5 beers on tap. They had $1 1/2 oz tastings which I thought was kind of steep.The tours seemed very unorganized and rushed. It was a task to get a beer and find a spot to properly review it. Not as big as I thought it would be. It was pretty cool to see a mountain of left-over hops around the dumpster. It would be nice if they had another building for tasting. It was just too hectic and crowded.

03-17-2011 02:37:35 | More by StaveHooks

FrankenBeerStein

Colorado

4.03/5  rDev -3.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

A very small tap room located in downtown, it has a pretty good feel to it. Their beers are all pretty good, and we had to stop in to check out the place. The tap room is pretty small, and was packed (doubt it cold hold more than 25 people at once). The crowd does tend to overwhelm the bartender a bit, so the service tended to be slower than average, though that's more a result of sheer numbers rather than staff competency. The prices are about standard for your average tap room. I had the oak aged yeti, and my friend had a samurai, both excellent. There is something to be said about getting a good craft beer straight from the source. We were there in winter, so the patio wasn't really an option, but there is a small one with a few more seats for better weather. Overall, I would go back, recommend hitting the place up, and even bring other people to check out the place, but for my personal tastes, the smallness of the taproom and the packed-house kind of crowd is more of a "let's hit it up quick, and have one, and move on" kind of place. I would be more likely to try and find a bar in the area that serves a healthy selection of Great Divide beers.

05-29-2011 22:53:59 | More by FrankenBeerStein

alli4051

Colorado

3.98/5  rDev -4.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Tiny but comfortable tap room attached to the main brewery. They do regular brewery tours which we just missed. Place was busy but not at all uncomfortable while we were there. Obviously they offer Great Divide offerings exclusively and they will open a bottle of something to try if its not on tap, which I thought was a really nice touch. While it may not be my favorite brewery this is definitely a nice place to chill and have a casual beer. Location is nice too since considering its in downtown Denver a few blocks away from the ballpark.

02-26-2010 05:04:39 | More by alli4051

estlinska

Arkansas

4.86/5  rDev +16.8%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I read here that this place is often crowded, but I guess my wife and I got lucky. We went by in the early evening on my birthday, and we were the only ones there. The bartender was super-knowledgable not only about the beers themselves, but the business itself. He was very enthusiastic to give a thorough treatment on all the beers on tap. He talked me into some styles I wasn’t comfortable with at the time (the Claymore in particular), which I appreciate even more now. Great place to visit and have a delicious craft beer.

06-20-2012 22:50:04 | More by estlinska

jeremyn

Colorado

3.59/5  rDev -13.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3 | $

Went here this afternoon with 3 friends and it was quite crowded.

We snagged a table outside pretty quickly but had to go inside to order. No problem. 4 free samples per person is nice. If you share, you can taste their entire lineup with two people. But that's part of the problem. Only 8 beers at a tap room? Pretty much all of the special releases and seasonals were unavailable. I was disappointed.

The beer we tried was hit or miss. Really poor showing on the two belgian styles we tried (a strong golden and a saison), but that's not really what they're known for. IPAs were solid...so were the imperial stout and barleywine.

Nice vibe, and we had a good time. I was just a little disappointed that I couldn't try some of their harder-to-find beers.

03-14-2010 03:09:41 | More by jeremyn

Prospero

Colorado

4.66/5  rDev +12%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | $$

I've been here a couple times in the last 2 months. (9/2010-10/2010)

First time I went with a friend, early September early afternoon. Bar was moderately busy, there's a bar to sit at and more bar seating behind the bar, along with 3 round tables or so with high-back chairs to sit at. Service as usual is great. You get 4 free samples of whatever they have on tap that day, typically about 10 beers on tap, occasionally one on cask, and you can sample anything they have bottled as well, if it's not on tap they'll open a bottle for you. Pints after that are $4, pretty standard fare. Always great beer on tap.

Went a couple more times with family & friends and had pretty much the same experience. They do tours on the hour every hour upon request. Colin who's almost always there gives a great tour. It's a smaller brewery so it only takes about 30-minutes, but the staff is VERY knowledgeable about the beer and the process and I felt like they did an excellent job making it interesting and fun while answering a lot of good questions.

The brewery often holds events about twice or more times a month. Some with food, some tapping events. I went to an awesome event releasing Fresh Hop & Hibernation and the event was a blast. They had great live music and a local food-truck type food setup. It was $15/person for 4 pints and 2 food servings. Really good deal, and the beer was awesome.

The atmosphere is great as well, as it's just off the main 16th Street mall about 3-4 minute walk. They have a patio where you can sit and enjoy the 300 days of sun we get in Denver. They have hops growing outside and just a fun place to be. It does get crowded on weekends and gamedays, but for the most part I feel like most of the patrons are connoisseurs of beer or at least appreciate craft beer. I enjoy this place a lot and always wish I could come here more often.

11-01-2010 19:33:28 | More by Prospero

yaegerje

Minnesota

4.44/5  rDev +6.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

They had a nice selection of tap and bottled poured beer available, really nice prices too, 3 or 4 dollars for most of the beers during happy hour, beer at its freshest for that price is great.

We showed up at 230 for the 3PM tour, got on just fine, tour was fine, nothing exceptional, I would have expected some samples or something, pretty standard for the industry but that's ok. Showed us all the fermenting towers, grain room, mash and lauter tun, and bottling facility, the hostess/tour guide was very knowledgeable and was open to questions during the tour. My suggestion is grab a beer or two before the tour and carry them around with you, the tour lasted approx. 1/2 hour.

The bartender was also very helpful and attentive, it's a pretty small tap-room, it could probably only fit about 20 people comfortably but that's ok, really cool industrial type setting fits the style of the brewery and the people working their, I really enjoyed my time spent at the brewery. If I wasn't taking a flight back home I would have bought a bunch of GD beer to take home.

03-11-2011 16:11:33 | More by yaegerje